Epress.am News from Armenia
A group of young activists gathered Thursday outside the National Assembly building in Yerevan to show their support for Armenian political prisoners. The demonstrators tied themselves to the gates of NA’s main entrance before being taken away by police.
Valery Osipyan, a Yerevan police deputy chief, announced that the activists were violating public order and called on them to untie themselves. When protester Ara Petrosyan responded with a demand for the release of political prisoners, Osipyan ordered the three dozen law enforcement officers who had come to the scene to detain the activists and take them to the Arabkir police station.
Note, a variety of international and local human rights organizations and civil society representatives have recognized jailed oppositionist Shant Harutyunyan, reserve army colonel Volodya Avetisyan, as well as opposition activists Hayk Kyureghyan and Gevorg Safaryan as political prisoners.